Container

ABSTRACT

Provided is a container that allows a portion where detachment starts to be fixed at a specified position in a more reliable manner, thus allowing contents to be discharged in a direction expected by a user, allowing eventually reduction in the amount of contents to remain in the container in the end. The container includes a container body holding contents therein and a lid member, the container body and the lid member being sealed by an annular seal portion formed along a flanged face of the opening. There is provided a detaching seal portion which is detached in response to increase of pressure inside the container body associated with deformation of the container body. The detaching seal portion includes a reverse-oriented annular seal portion which occupies a part of a width of the flanged face and which projects toward a radial inner side of the opening.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a container including a container bodyholding contents therein and a lid member for closing an opening of thecontainer body, the container body and the lid member being sealed witheach other by an annular seal portion formed along a flanged face of theopening, a portion of the annular seal portion being detached inresponse to increase of pressure inside the container body associatedwith deformation of the container body resulting from application of anexternal force to a bottom face of the container body.

BACKGROUND ART

Patent Document 1 identified below exists as an example of backgroundart information relating to this type of container. In the case of thecontainer disclosed in this Patent Document 1, when the bottom face ofthe container is pressed from above with the container under a postureof orienting the lid member downwards being set to a bottom portion of asetting space present upwardly of a dilution bottle, the pressure insidethe container body increases to cause detachment of a portion of theannular seal portion from the flanged face, whereby the contents aredischarged into the dilution bottle.

Therefore, if a liquid of concentrated beverage ingredient is used asthe contents of the container, beverage of an appropriate concentrationcan be obtained by introducing water or the like into the dilutionbottle.

Further, in the case of Patent Document 1, the lid member is sealed overa relatively large area extending along the flanged face entirely in itswidth direction. And, at a portion of the flanged face located at itsradially inner edge, a sharp projecting portion projecting towards theradially inner side is provided as an exfoliation guiding portion.

BACKGROUND ART DOCUMENT Patent Document

Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application PublicationNo. 2012-135518 (paragraph [0017], paragraph [0021], FIG. 1).

SUMMARY Problem to be Solved by Invention

However, with the container disclosed in Patent Document 1, since thesealing is provided along the flanged face over the entire widthdirection thereof, the inside pressure required for unsealing a portionof the annular seal portion tends to be too high. Further, in spite ofthe presence of the sharp projecting portion, the portion at which thedetachment starts will not be fixed at the exfoliation guiding portion,so that the contents may be discharged in a direction unexpected by auser. Also, as a result of the above, it was not possible tosufficiently reduce the amount of contents to remain finally inside thecontainer.

Then, an object of the present invention, in view of the above-describedproblem provided by the background art, is to provide a container thatallows a portion where detachment starts to be fixed at a specifiedposition in a more reliable manner, thus allowing contents to bedischarged in a direction expected by a user, allowing eventuallyreduction in the amount of contents to remain in the container in theend.

Solution

According to a characterizing feature of a container relating to thepresent invention, the container comprises:

a container body holding contents therein and a lid member for closingan opening of the container body, the container body and the lid memberbeing sealed with each other by an annular seal portion formed along aflanged face of the opening;

wherein at a specified portion of the annular seal portion, there isprovided a detaching seal portion which is detached in response toincrease of pressure inside the container body associated withdeformation of the container body; and

the detaching seal portion includes a reverse-oriented annular sealportion which occupies a part of a width of the flanged face and whichprojects toward a radial inner side of the opening.

With the container having the above-described characterizing feature,when the detaching seal portion is detached in response to increase ofthe inside pressure inside the container body, detachment will occur atthe reverse-oriented annular seal portion which occupies a part of awidth of the flanged face and which projects toward a radial inner sideof the opening, prior to detachment of the remaining portion of theannular seal portion.

Therefore, a user can know in advance and with high precision from whichpart of the opening the contents will be discharged. Consequently, theamount of the contents to remain inside the container in the end can bereduced sufficiently.

Further, with the container having the above-described characterizingfeature, as a result of detachment of the reverse-oriented annular sealportion, an opening having a constant width can be formed, so that thecontents can be discharged in a stable manner.

According to a further characterizing feature of the present invention,there is provided an auxiliary detaching seal portion which connectsopposed ends on the radial outer side of the reverse-oriented annularseal portion.

With the above-described arrangement, the provision of the auxiliarydetaching seal portion interconnecting the opposed ends on the radialouter side of the reverse-oriented annular seal portion serves toeffectively restrict occurrence of an inconvenient phenomenon thatinadvertent detachment occurs in the annular seal portion, inparticular, at the vicinity of the reverse-oriented annular seal portionin response to application of a force to the outer side of the containerin the course of its distribution such as transportation, storage, etc.rather than in response to the inside pressure inside the containerbody. Incidentally, when detachment of the reverse-oriented annular sealportion is caused by inside pressure inside the container body, theauxiliary detaching seal portion will be detached relatively easily. Onepossible reason for this is deemed to be associated with a phenomenonthat due to the effect of the above inside pressure, the lid member isdetached continuously from the flanged face from the left and rightopposed ends towards the center of the auxiliary detaching seal portion.

According to a still further characterizing feature of the presentinvention, an outflow channel for discharging the contents extendsradially outwards from the detaching seal portion; and

at positions facing the outflow channel from the left and right sidesthereof, there are provided non-detaching seal portions comprised of aplurality of annular seal portions extending along a circumferentialdirection.

As the non-detaching seal portions are comprised of a plurality ofannular seal portions extending along the circumferential direction,these portions are sealed with each other with a sufficiently higherbonding force than the other annular seal portion extending as a singleportion. Therefore, with the above-described arrangement, even whenincrease of the inside pressure occurs at an unexpected high rate,detachment of the reverse-oriented annular seal portion will not extendto reach the non-detaching seal portion, so that the sealed state can bemaintained. As a result, the width of the flow channel for dischargedcontents will be limited, so that the direction to which the dischargedcontents will proceed can be anticipated easily. Moreover, in the caseof a usage of opening the container as this container is set inside someother auxiliary container, an area where the contents will flow in theinner face of this auxiliary container will be limited conveniently.

According to a still further characterizing feature of the presentinvention, the detaching seal portion and the non-detaching seal portionare connected to each other via a pair of left and right connectingannular seal portions; and between a portion of the pair of connectingannular seal portions and the outflow channel, there are provided a pairof auxiliary non-detaching seal portions facing each other across theoutflow channel therebetween.

With the above-described arrangement, detachment at the reverse-orientedannular seal portion will not extend to reach the non-detaching sealportion, and will also not reach the auxiliary non-detaching sealportion, so that the sealed state will be maintained at the auxiliarynon-detaching seal portion as well. As a result, the channel fordischarged contents will be further reduced in its width advantageously.

According to a still further characterizing feature of the presentinvention, at a position of the flanged face of the container bodycorresponding to the outflow channel, there is formed an outflow groovesunk toward the bottom of the container body.

With the above-described arrangement, when a portion of the annular sealportion is unsealed starting from the reverse-oriented annular sealportion, between the lid member and the outflow channel, an outflowchannel having a relatively sufficient vertical thickness will beformed. As a result, spreading of the flow channel for the dischargedcontents in the width direction will occur less likely, so that thecontents will fall onto a relatively fixed position easily.

According to a still further characterizing feature of the presentinvention, the annular seal portion is provided in the form of a groovesunk in the thickness direction of the flanged face by pressing the lidmember against the flanged face via a seal bar having at its leading endan annular projection having a shape corresponding to the annular sealportion; and

the reverse-oriented annular seal portion is provided as an unevensealing force groove having a smaller curvature radius on its radialinner side than its radial outer side.

With the above-described arrangement, at the portion located on theradial inner side of the reverse-oriented annular seal portion, thedetachment will be started with application of a relatively low insidepressure as compared with the remaining annular seal portion. Therefore,the reverse-oriented annular seal portion projecting toward the radialinner side will function as the detachment starting point in a reliablemanner. On the other hand, the portion located on the radial outer sideof the reverse-oriented annular seal portion has an ordinary crosssectional shape sunk toward the bottom face at an angle equal orapproximately equal to the other annular seal portion, so theinconvenience of inadvertent unsealing of the lid member by applicationof an external force in the course of distribution or the like isprevented.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing appearance of a container,

FIG. 2 is a section view showing the container as being set with adilution bottle,

FIG. 3 is a section view showing the dilution bottle and the containerwhich has been deformed and unsealed,

FIG. 4 is a section view showing a container body and a lid member ofthe container,

FIG. 5 is a plane view showing a deforming step of the container,

FIG. 6 is a plane view showing an annular seal portion,

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a detaching step of adetaching seal portion,

FIG. 8 is a section view illustrating a sealing step of an annular sealportion by a seal bar,

FIG. 9 is a section view showing the annular seal portion and an annularprojection of the seal bar,

FIG. 10 is a plane view showing a further embodiment of the detachingseal portion,

FIG. 11 is a plane view showing a further embodiment of the annular sealportion,

FIG. 12 is a plane view showing a still further embodiment of theannular seal portion, and

FIG. 13 is a section view showing a further embodiment of a deformationcontrolling recess.

EMBODIMENTS

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described withreference to the accompanying drawings.

(General Configuration of Container)

FIG. 1 shows a portion container 1 as an example of “container” relatingto the present invention. This portion container 1 includes a containerbody 2 formed of resin and holding an amount of contents C in form ofe.g. liquid therein and having a bottom and a lid member 9 formed ofresin and configured to close an opening of the container body 2 in asealing manner. At least a portion of the container body 2 is configuredto be readily deformable by an external force.

The container body 2 and the lid member 9 are originally sealed witheach other via an annular seal portion 6 formed annularly along aflanged face 5A of a flange 5 extending radially outwards from theopening of the container body 2. In response to a pressing pressureapplied to e.g. a bottom face 3 of the container body 2, a portion ofthe container body 2 will be deformed in such a manner to reduce theinside volume of this container body 2. Then, when the pressure insidethe container body 2 rises to reach a critical value, exfoliation (anexample of “detachment”) of the lid member 9 from the flanged face 5Aoccurs at a portion of the annular seal portion 6, thus effectingunsealing of the container.

Incidentally, even when some air is present in the container body 2together with the contents C, if the unsealing is effected under a stateof reverse-orienting the portion container 1 with the lid member 9disposed downwards, the contents C, rather than the air, will be chargedfirst.

At a specified position in the annular seal portion 6, there is provideda detaching seal portion 6S which can be detached more easily byincrease of the inside pressure of the container body 2 than theremaining portion of the annular seal portion 6. Therefore, the aboveensures that the position of the lid member 9 to be detached from theflanged face 5A with the increased inside pressure of the container body2 will always be present at the position of this detaching seal portion6S, so that the user can readily anticipate the advancing or dischargingdirection of the discharged contents C.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, at a portion of the flange 5 of thecontainer body 2, there is formed an engaged sunk portion 5B sunk to theradially inner side (this engaged sunk portion 5B will appear as a“dent” in the outer shape of the flange 5 as seen in its plane view).And, at an area of the flanged face 5A corresponding to the engaged sunkportion 5B, there is formed an outflow groove 5D which is sunk towardthe bottom face 3 and which is formed generally rectangular in the planeview (this outflow groove 5D will appear as a dent in the outer shape ofthe flange 5 as seen its front view or side view). This outflow groove5D constitutes an outflow channel through which the contents C will flowupon exfoliation of the detaching seal portion 6S. The detaching sealportion 6S is disposed at an angular position corresponding to thesemembers, i.e. the engaged sunk portion 5B and the outflow groove 5D asseen in the plane view.

(Configuration of Dilution Bottle)

FIG. 2 shows an example of a bottle 10 that allows easy mixing of thecontents C discharged from the portion container 1 with certain otherliquid L or the like when used in combination with this portioncontainer 1 and shows also the portion container 1 as being set to thebottle 10.

The bottle 10 shown in FIG. 2 includes a bottomed bottle body 11 havinga relatively large capacity as compared with the portion container 1, anunsealing support member 12 provided at an upper portion of the bottlebody 11, and a pressure applying member 20 supported to the inner faceof the unsealing support member 12 to be vertically movable relativethereto.

The unsealing support member 12 includes a cylindrical portion 12Ahaving an interior communicated to the interior of the bottle body 11and a disc-shaped flange portion 12B extending radially outwards from avertically intermediate position in the cylindrical portion 12A. Theunsealing support member 12 is threaded to a female threaded portion 11Sformed in an inner face of the opening of the bottle body 11 via a malethread 12S formed in the outer circumference of cylindrical portion 12Adownwardly of the flange portion 12B.

Inside the cylindrical portion 12A, there is provided a containersupport portion 13 for supporting the portion container 1 with the lidmember 9 being oriented downwards.

The container support portion 13 includes a sloped face 13A which has aprofile progressively decreased toward the opening 14 so as to establishcommunication between an upper inner space of the cylindrical portion12A and the inside space of the bottle body 11.

The pressure applying member 20 includes a piston body 21 provided to beslidable relative to the inner face of the cylindrical portion 12A ofthe unsealing support portion 12, a bar-like support shaft 22 extendingupwards from the upper face of the piston body 21, and a generallydisc-like operational piece 23 attached to the upper end of the supportshaft 22.

When the user progressively presses down the pressure applying member 20via the operational piece 23 with the portion container 1 being placedon the sloped face 13A of the container support portion 13, asillustrated in FIG. 5, the container body 2 is deformed to cause theinside pressure of this container body 2 to rise to reach a criticalvalue, so that the lid member 9 will tend to detach from the flangedface 5A in the vicinity of the detaching seal portion 6S. However, asthe detaching seal portion 6S is placed under the state of facing theopening 14 from the above, the lid member 9 will be detached freelywithout being interfered by e.g. the sloped face 13A, so the unsealingoperation can proceed smoothly.

When the pressure applying member 20 is pressed down farther, asillustrated in FIG. 5 (d), there will occur vertically reducingdeformation mainly in the side wall portion 4 of the container body 2,whereby most of the contents C will be discharged to the inside of thebottle body 11.

(Detailed Configuration of Side Wall Portion)

As shown in FIG. 4, the side wall portion 4 of the container body 2comprises a cylindrical body whose diameter is progressively reducedtoward the bottom face 3, and the side wall portion 4 includes a baseend portion 4A extending from the back face of the flange 5 towards thebottom face 3, a leading end portion 4C extending from the bottom face 3towards the flange 5, and an intermediate portion 4B interconnectingthese base end portion 4A and leading end portion 4C.

The intermediate portion 4B is formed to obtain a smaller wall facethickness than the base end portion 4A and the leading end portion 4C,so that this intermediate portion 4B can be deformed more easily by anexternal force than the base end portion 4A and the leading end portion4C. Incidentally, the arrangement for rendering the intermediate portion4B more easily deformable than the two portions 4A, 4C can be providedby any other technique than the above, such as forming a folding line inthe intermediate portion 4C alone.

Therefore, as the pressure applying member 20 is pressed down graduallyvia the operational piece 23 as described above, the deformation of thecontainer body 2 will proceed with mainly the intermediate portion 4Bhaving the smaller thickness in the side wall portion 4 collapsing.

FIG. 5 shows four states in sequence according to the sequence ofdeformation, from the initial state (a) in which the side wall portion 4is not yet subject to any deformation to the state (d) in which the sidewall portion 4 has been deformed sufficiently until most of theintermediate portion 4B advances into between the base end portion 4Aand the leading end portion 4C.

In the instant embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 5 (a) in particular,there are provided small radially extending steps adjacent the boundarybetween the base end portion 4A and the intermediate portion 4B andadjacent the boundary between the intermediate portion 4B and theleading end portion 4C. At the positions of these steps, theintermediate portion 4B has a smaller diameter than the base end portion4A and the leading end portion 4C has a smaller diameter than theintermediate portion 4B, respectively.

Therefore, when the vertical reduction deformation occurs with thecollapsing deformation of the side wall portion 4, as illustrated inFIG. 5 (d), deformation proceeds with a portion of the intermediateportion 4B entering the radial inner side of the base end portion 4A andwith the leading end portion 4C entering the radial inner side of theintermediate portion 4B, respectively.

Further, in the instant embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 5 (a) etc.,at a circumferential portion of the side wall portion 4, there is formeda sloped sunk portion 16 which has a progressively reduced width as itis displaced from the end of the intermediate portion 4B (the lower endof the intermediate portion 4B in FIG. 5) generally toward the bottomface 3 to one left or right side (the left side in FIG. 5) in thecircumferential direction when the container body 2 assumes the postureof the lid member 9 being oriented downwards and which includes an upperend portion 16P adjacent the boundary between the intermediate portion4B and the leading end portion 4C.

As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, at a position in the base end portion 4Aon the radially inner side of the engaged sunk portion 58, there isprovided a base end sunk portion 15 which extends linearly along an axisX from the back face of the flanged face 5A toward the bottom face 3.This base end sunk portion 15 is sunk in the form of an arc projectingradially inwards as seen in the plane view, and the sloped sunk portion16 extends continuously from an end portion of the base end sunk portion15 (the upper end of the base end sunk portion 15 in FIG. 5) toward thebottom face 3.

Then, when a vertical stress is applied to the side wall portion 4 bye.g. the pressure applying member 20, the stress or distortion will beconcentrated in the vicinity of the upper end 16P of the sloped sunkportion 16, so that the collapsing deformation of the side wall portion4 will begin from the vicinity of this upper end 16P, as illustrated inFIG. 5 (b).

The second view (b) in FIG. 5 illustrates a situation when thecollapsing deformation of the side wall portion 4 has started at theportion of the sloped sunk portion 16 corresponding to the upper end 16Pvicinity. When further vertical stress is applied thereto, a portion ofthe intermediate portion 4B will be bent radially inwards, thusrealizing the state illustrated in the third view (c) in FIG. 5 in whichit has advanced to the radially inner side of the base end portion 4A.

Next, when further vertical stress is applied from the state illustratedin FIG. 5 (c), the bent portion of the intermediate portion 4Bprojecting downwards on the radial inner side of the base end portion 4Awill move within the intermediate portion 4B gradually towards thebottom face 3 and approaching the flange 5 at the same time, thusrealizing the state illustrated in the fourth view (d) in FIG. 5 inwhich the side wall portion 4 has been deformed sufficiently until mostof the intermediate portion 4B has advanced into between the base endportion 4A and the leading end portion 4C.

In the course of the above, under the state illustrated in the thirdview (c) in FIG. 5 at the latest, the lid member 9 will be detached fromthe flange 5A only at the detaching seal portion 6S as illustrated inFIG. 7 (d), so that unsealing is effected to allow start of discharge ofthe contents C from between the outflow groove 5D and the lid member 9.In this, between the outflow groove 5D and the back face of the detachedlid member 9, as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, there will be formed acylindrical outflow guiding space FS extending in the radial direction,so the contents C will be discharged in a stable manner as being guidedby this cylindrical outflow guiding space.

Incidentally, in the intermediate portion 4B of the side wall portion 4,in order to prevent deformation by a shock during transportation forinstance, there are formed a plurality of narrow line-like recesses 8 inthe form of ribs arranged equidistantly and inclined along the samedirection along the axis X, for the purpose of obtaining higher strengthat thin-walled portion.

(Detailed Configuration of Annular Seal Portion)

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 6, the annular seal portion 6 sealingbetween the container body 2 and the lid member 9 is configured suchthat rather than this seal portion 6 being face-fused and bonded acrossthe entire width of the flanged face 5A over the entire circumference,the portion 6 is fused and bonded in the form of a line occupying only aportion of the width of the flanged face 5A.

More specifically, the annular seal portion 6, as shown in FIG. 6,includes a triangular seal portion 6T provided in the form of a triangleincluding a triangular first insular portion 7A at a position on theradial inner side of the engaged sunk portion 5B, an ordinary sealportion 6G formed longest in the form of a ring or a line projectingtoward the radial outer side at the portion of the flanged face 5Aexcluding the engaged sunk portion 5B, a pair of left and rightnon-detaching seal portions 6D provided from the opposed ends of theordinary seal portion 6G in such a manner to include a second insularportion 7B with an offset toward the engaged sunk portion 5B, and a pairof left and right connecting annular seal portions 6C connecting thetriangular seal portion 6T and the non-detaching seal portions 6D.

Incidentally, in this detailed description, the term “insular portion”refers to a portion where the lid member 9 is not fused and bondedintentionally and partially to the flanged face 5A, but is left in theform of an island inside the bonded portion present in its surrounding.

Further, the annular seal portion 6 includes a pair of left and rightauxiliary non-detaching seal portions 6E extending from the vicinity ofthe boundary between the non-detaching seal portions 6D and theconnecting seal portion 6C to be disposed to face each other across theoutflow groove 5D therebetween.

The triangular portion 6T only one which is provided and thenon-detaching seal portions 6D two of which are provided exhibit anring-shape including the first insular portion 7A and the second insularportion 7B therein, such that a secondary ring-like portion is includedin a portion of the overall primary ring-like portion formed by theannular seal portion. Here, the “primary ring-like portion” refers to asingle large seal portion extending to surround the entire opening ofthe container body 2, whereas the “secondary ring-like portion” refersto a small seal portion extending to surround the first insular portion7A and the second insular portion 7B.

In the instant embodiment, the triangular seal portion 6T mainlyconstitutes the detaching seal portion 6S which can be detached moreeasily than the remaining portion of the annular seal portion 6 byincrease of the inside pressure of the container body 2.

The triangular seal portion 6T is provided along the regioncorresponding to the radial inner side of the engaged sunk portion 5B inthe flanged face 5A and exhibits as a whole a shape of an isoscelestriangle projecting toward the radial inner side of the annular sealportion 6 in left-right symmetry.

In the triangular seal portion 6T, the two sides thereof located on theradial inner side of the above isosceles triangle, provide areverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A which is curved to projecttoward the radial inner side of the opening in the plane view,conversely from the ordinary seal portion 6G.

On the other hand, the one side corresponding to the base on the radialouter side of the isosceles triangle forms an auxiliary seal portion 6Bwhich extends linearly to interconnect the opposed ends of thereverse-oriented seal portion 6A.

As a result of its geometric feature of being curved to project towardsthe radial inner side, in the event of increase of the inside pressureassociated with deformation of the container body 2, a radially inwardlyoriented leading end P1 of the reverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A(see FIG. 6 and FIG. 7) will be the portion where the inside pressure ofthe container body 2 is concentrated most in the annular seal portion 6,so that the reverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A serves as adetachment start portion where detachment of the lid member 9 startswith this inside pressure.

FIG. 7 shows four views arranged in accordance with progress ofexfoliation (detachment), from the initial sate (a) when detachment ofthe lid member 9 or detachment of the annular seal portion 6 is not yetstarted to the state (d) when the detachment of the lid member 9 at thedetaching seal portion 6S by the inside pressure F of the container body2 has been completed.

The second view (b) in FIG. 7 illustrates a state when exfoliation ofthe lid member 9 has been started at the leading end P1 of thereverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A. The third view (c) in FIG. 7illustrates a state when the exfoliation of the lid portion 9 hasprogressed over the entirety of the reverse-oriented annular sealportion 6A, but no exfoliation has occurred yet at the linear-shapedauxiliary detaching seal portion 6B.

As shown in the third view (c), after exfoliation of thereverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A, the inside pressure F of thecontainer body 2 will be concentrated most at the auxiliary detachingseal portion 6B. So, exfoliation of the lid member 9 will proceed atthis auxiliary detaching seal portion 6B with the inside pressure F.

As the result of progress of exfoliation of the lid member 9 at theauxiliary detaching seal portion 6B, as illustrated in (d) in FIG. 4,when at least a portion of the auxiliary detaching seal portion 6B hasbeen detached, partial detachment of the annular seal portion 6 will beaccomplished, whereby discharge of the contents C from the containerbody 2 will start.

Finally, as illustrated in the fourth view (d) in FIG. 7, when theexfoliation of the lid member 9 has occurred along the entire length ofthe linear-shaped auxiliary detaching seal portion 6B, in other words,when the exfoliation/unsealing has occurred only at the region of thetriangular seal portion 6T constituting generally the detaching sealportion 6S, detachment of the annular seal portion 6 will be completed.Yet, a necessary outflow channel will be maintained to allow dischargingof the contents C entirely at an appropriate rate.

Incidentally, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the annular seal portion 6 issealed by pressing the lid member 9 against the flanged face 5A of thecontainer body 2 by a predetermined period (e.g. from 1 to a fewseconds) be means of a hot seal bar 30 having an annular projection 31having a shape corresponding to the shape of this annular seal portion 6at its lower end.

Therefore, of a plurality of layers made of laminate films constitutingthe lid member 9, the lowermost layer contacting the flanged face 5Aincludes a heat seal layer (not shown) containing polyolefin-based resinhaving a function of being temporarily softened with application of heatand pressure from the seal bar 30, thus heat-fused and bonded to theflanged face 5A.

By the pressing of the seal bar 30, the lid member 9 will be fusedlybonded to the flanged face 5A with the heat seal layer at the portioncorresponding to the annular projection 31 provided at the lower end ofthe seal bar 30. At the same time, a groove-like sunk portioncorresponding to the annular projection 31 will be formed in the flangedface 5A.

As a result of research effort made in connection with the presentinvention, there was obtained a finding that in the cross sectionalshape of the groove of the annular seal portion 6, the edge portions ofthe groove (the portions slightly raised on the opposed sides of thegroove) show strongest bonding force. It was therefore found that inorder to obtain a stronger bonding force, increase of the number ofgrooves is more effective than simply increasing the bonding area orincreasing the width size of the groove to be formed by the seal bar 30.

Further, although the cross sectional shape of the annular projection 31is a significant factor that controls the bonding force of the annularseal 6, as illustrated in FIG. 9, respecting the annular projection 31provided to form most of the annular seal portion 6 including theordinary seal portion 6G, this projection 31 is provided with a shapehaving a same shape at its radially inner portion and its radially outerportion, that is, a left/right symmetric cross sectional shape.

Conversely, respecting an annular projection 31A provided to form thereverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A, its radially outer sideportion (Q2 in FIG. 9) has a curvature radius substantially equal tothat of the annular projection 31B provided to form the other auxiliarydetaching seal portion 6B, but its radially inner side portion (Q1 inFIG. 9) is provided with a smaller curvature radius than the radiallyouter side portion Q2, thus provided with a special cross sectionalshape non-right/left symmetric.

Therefore, as shown in the lower portion in FIG. 9, the cross section ofthe reverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A sealed by the annularprojection 31A has a special shape with the radially inner portion beingsunk to face the bottom face 3 at a more acute angle as compared withthe radially outer portion. That is, the groove of the reverse-orientedannular seal portion 6A formed by the seal bar 30 constitutes an “unevensealing force groove” where resistance against a detaching force appliedfrom the radial inner side is distinctly smaller than resistance againsta detaching force applied from the radial outer side. As a result, atthe radially inner portion of the reverse-oriented annular seal portion6A, exfoliation will occur with a lower inside pressure F as comparedwith the remaining portion of the annular seal portion 6, so that theabove-described leading end P1 can function as the exfoliation startpoint reliably.

On the other hand, the portion (P2) located on the radially outer sideof the reverse-oriented annular seal portion 6A has the standard crosssectional shape sunk to be oriented toward the bottom face 3 at thesubstantially equal angle to that of e.g. the auxiliary detaching sealportion 6B. Thus, inconvenience of inadvertent unsealing of the lidmember 9 by an external force which may be applied in the course oftransportation/distribution.

Next, the pair of left and right non-detaching seal portions 6D, asshown in FIG. 7, are disposed on the circumferentially outer sidesrelative to the outflow groove 5D, with two annular seal portionsextending in the circumferential direction to surround the secondinsular portions 7B which respectively exhibit a streamline shape asseen in the plane view. In this way, in each detaching seal portion 6D,the two annular seal portions surrounding the second insular portion 7Bare provided. This arrangement serves to double the number of the edgeportions of the groove described above. As a result, at this portion,the lid member 9 is bonded with a bonding force which far exceeds thebonding force provided by the ordinary seal portion 6G comprised of asingle annular seal portion. Further, the portion of the annularprojection 31A sealing the non-detaching seal portion 6D has theordinary left/right symmetric cross sectional shape having the curvatureradius substantially equal to that of e.g. the auxiliary detaching sealportion 6B. Consequently, even when the rate of increase of the insidepressure of the container body 2 exceeds a generally expected range, thepossibility of the detaching starting at the detaching seal portion 6Sextending inadvertently to the non-detaching seal portion 6D is small.

The triangular seal portion 6T and each non-detaching seal portion 6Dare connected to each other via the one of the left and right pair ofconnecting annular seal portions 6C. From the vicinity of the boundarybetween the non-detaching seal portions 6D and the connecting annularseal portions 6C, the pair of left and right auxiliary non-detachingseal portions 6E extend to the position immediately before the outflowgroove 5D in such a manner to be disposed to face each other across thisoutflow groove 5D therebetween. Respecting the connecting annular sealportion 6C and the auxiliary non-detaching seal portion 6E, these sealportions 6C, 6E too have the ordinary left-right symmetric crosssectional shape with the curvature radius substantially equal to that ofe.g. the auxiliary detaching seal portion 6B.

As illustrated in the last view (d) in FIG. 7, the pair of left andright auxiliary non-detaching seal portions 6E too will not be detachedlike the non-detaching seal portions 6D, and the auxiliary non-detachingseal portion 6E provides the function of limiting the width of theoutflow channel to be formed by exfoliation of the lid member 9 below anexpected value (agreeing to the width of the triangular seal portion 6T,that is, the length of the auxiliary detaching seal portion 6 b).

Other Embodiments

<1> When there is less need to take into consideration the influence ofexternal force such as in the course of distribution/transportation, asillustrated in FIG. 10, the detaching seal portion 6S can bealternatively embodied with omission of the auxiliary detaching sealportion 6B corresponding to the base of the isosceles triangleconstituting the triangular seal portion 6T in the foregoing embodiment.

<2> In the foregoing embodiment, inside the triangular seal portion 6T,the first insular portion 7A as a non-seal portion was left. Instead,without leaving such first insular portion 7A inside the triangular sealportion 6T, the inner side of this triangular seal portion 6T may besealed entirely.

<3> The ordinary seal portion 6G other than the detaching seal portion6S in the annular seal portion 6 can be provided with a multiplestructure in which a plurality of line-like seal portions 6H are presenton the radially inner and outer sides across long non-sealing portions19. This arrangement can further increase the sealing strength of theordinary seal portion 6G.

<4> Or, as illustrated in FIG. 12, the sealing strength of the ordinaryseal portion 6G can be further increased also by implementing astructure wherein the ordinary seal portion 6G is provided with a largeradial width, inside of which many circular or oval-shaped insularnon-sealing portions 7C are arranged along the circumferentialdirection.

<5> As illustrated in FIG. 13, instead of the sloped sunk portion 16,there may be provided a perpendicularly sunk portion 17 (an example of“deformation controlling recess”) which extends with a progressivelyreduced width generally along the generating line of the side wall fromthe end portion of the base end sunk portion 15 (the lower end of thebase end sunk portion 15 in FIG. 13) towards the bottom face 3. In thiscase too, similar effect to the effect provided by the sloped sunkportion 16 can be obtained.

<6> The contents to be held in the portion container is not limited toliquid, but can be e.g. mixture of powder and liquid, mixture of powderand gas, etc.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

This invention is applicable as a technique to solve the problemconventionally found in a portion container including a container bodyholding contents therein and a lid member for closing an opening of thecontainer body, the container body and the lid member being sealed by anannular seal portion formed along a flanged face of the opening.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE MARKS/NUMERALS

-   -   1: portion container (container)    -   2: container body    -   3: bottom face    -   4: side wall portion    -   5: flange    -   5A: flanged face    -   5D: outflow groove    -   6: annular seal portion    -   6A: reverse-oriented annular seal portion    -   6B: auxiliary detaching seal portion    -   6C: connecting annular seal portion    -   6D: non-detaching seal portion    -   6E: auxiliary non-detaching seal portion    -   6G: ordinary seal portion    -   6S: detaching seal portion    -   6T: triangular seal portion    -   7A: first insular portion    -   7B: second insular portion    -   9: lid member    -   10: dilution bottle    -   30: seal bar    -   31: annular projection    -   31A: annular projection    -   31B: annular projection    -   C: contents    -   P1: leading end    -   X: axis

1. A container including a container body holding contents therein and alid member for closing an opening of the container body, the containerbody and the lid member being sealed with each other by an annular sealportion formed along a flanged face of the opening; wherein at aspecified portion of the annular seal portion, there is provided adetaching seal portion which is detached in response to increase ofpressure inside the container body associated with deformation of thecontainer body; and the detaching seal portion includes areverse-oriented annular seal portion which occupies a part of a widthof the flanged face and which projects toward a radial inner side of theopening.
 2. The container according to claim 1, wherein there isprovided an auxiliary detaching seal portion which connects opposed endson the radial outer side of the reverse-oriented annular seal portion.3. The container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: an outflow channelfor discharging the contents extends radially outwards from thedetaching seal portion; and at positions facing the outflow channel fromthe left and right sides thereof, there are provided non-detaching sealportions comprised of a plurality of annular seal portions extendingalong a circumferential direction.
 4. The container according to claim3, wherein: the detaching seal portion and the non-detaching sealportion are connected to each other via a pair of left and rightconnecting annular seal portions; and between a portion of the pair ofconnecting annular seal portions and the outflow channel, there areprovided a pair of auxiliary non-detaching seal portions facing eachother across the outflow channel therebetween.
 5. The containeraccording to claim 3, wherein at a position of the flanged face of thecontainer body corresponding to the outflow channel, there is formed anoutflow groove sunk toward the bottom of the container body.
 6. Thecontainer according to claim 1, wherein: the annular seal portion isprovided in the form of a groove sunk in the thickness direction of theflanged face by pressing the lid member against the flanged face via aseal bar having at its leading end an annular projection having a shapecorresponding to the annular seal portion; and the reverse-orientedannular seal portion is provided as an uneven sealing force groovehaving a smaller curvature radius on its radial inner side than itsradial outer side.